Old School May Get New Life

Board Leader Backs Saving Mount Dora's Roseborough

April 13, 1998|By Robert Sargent Jr. and Kenneth A. Harris of The Sentinel Staff

MOUNT DORA — Less than two weeks after a judge ruled the Lake County School Board could tear down Roseborough Elementary, board members will consider a plan tonight to save the old school.

Board Chairman Randy Wiseman said Sunday he will present plans to restore much of the school on Fifth Avenue. And though the School Board and the city have squabbled for almost two years about what to do with its 70-year-old buildings, Wiseman said the board now can afford to save a piece of educational history.

FOR THE RECORD - ******************* CORRECTION PUBLISHED APRIL 14, 1998 ********************Because of an editor's error, a story in Monday's Lake Sentinel incorrectly identified David Felts as president of the Mount Dora Historical Society. Felts is a former head of the group. Lucretia West is the current president. Felts is the head of Citizens Against Demolition of Roseborough Elementary.*****************************************************************************

FOR THE RECORD - ******************* CORRECTION PUBLISHED APRIL 14, 1998 ********************Because of an editor's error, a story in Monday's Lake Sentinel incorrectly identified David Felts as president of the Mount Dora Historical Society. Felts is a former head of the group. Lucretia West is the current president. Felts is the head of Citizens Against Demolition of Roseborough Elementary. *****************************************************************************

``I was never against renovating the buildings in the first place. There just wasn't money to do it when all of this started,'' Wiseman said. ``Now we have enough money budgeted to put this idea together.''

Wiseman's plan calls for spending more than $2 million to restore the exterior of Roseborough's dilapidated buildings while completely overhauling the interior classrooms and offices.

Walls, floors and ceilings would be replaced, and fiber optics and other technical advancements would be added.

Several of the portable buildings likely would remain the same, Wiseman said.

Wiseman met Saturday with Mount Dora Mayor Paulette Alexander and Dave Felts, president of the Mount Dora Historical Society, to consider a joint funding effort that also could include federal historical money.

Alexander said saving the school, which was built in the 1920s, is a matter of community pride. She called the meeting with Wiseman and Felts ``very productive.''

``I'm elated at the prospect of saving the school,'' she said.

The School Board would front most of the money for the project while the city might be asked for about $500,000 in cash and in-kind services.

Wiseman said the city's expense would be much less than the $1.5 million originally requested two years ago.